Going too far is Dan Rhodes's forte. The reader is constantly and pleasurably aware that he is not a safe pair of hands. This entertaining book should not be bought by any innocent purchaser as a hint of a marriage proposal to come (although Rhodes, who seems to like writing dangerously, would almost certainly disagree). The size of a prayer book, the contents are rum, original and seriously flippant. Shorter than the average short story and occasionally no longer than a couple of paragraphs or two or three sentences, these fictional conceits are about marriage, weddings, infidelity, fatal attraction – and the lack of it. Rhodes's wilfully flat tone makes the way his stories dive into disaster and ricochet through romance much funnier. He has a comedian's talent for the deadpan.

"Marriage is the only legal contract which abrogates as between the parties all the laws that safeguard the particular relation to which it refers." This is George Bernard Shaw in full flow – quoted as the book's opening gag. Underneath, in tiny italics, is an "Author's note", which reads: "I have no idea what this means, but I'm sure it's very wise." Rhodes then gets going with his own unambiguous prose. He makes one instantly uneasy by giving his women precious (usually in both senses) names. Amethyst. Ammonite. Sunset. These women talk like patronising nannies to their stunned spouses. The men – especially if they are narrators – tend to be doltish, easily duped, the last ones to know.

In "Romantico", a wife returns from a holiday with snaps featuring a tall, handsome man – Romantico by name – with whom she intends to settle. "I want you to think of it as a fresh start for all three of us," she says. Rhodes is especially good at this nightmarish blandness. Women make nothing of their infidelities. The "other" man turns up here like a bad penny with an insulting lack of fuss or warning. Rhodes is brilliant at overturning convention and expected emotion. He takes an idea and elopes with it. In the satisfyingly ghastly "Terms and Conditions", a woman gives birth at the altar on her wedding day: "Instead of vows, all we heard were grunts, wails and language quite inappropriate for the surroundings."

In "Perfect" – one of my favourites – a couple have spent so much money on their wedding that they are rendered destitute. "Now, years later, as we huddle together for warmth under whichever bridge happens to feel the safest, we reminisce about our special day." The former groom chats about the quality of the bridesmaids' corsages, the former bride recalls the orchids and the difficulty they had in sourcing them. And about romantic destiny, Rhodes has only this to say: "When it comes to matters of romance, my fiancee is a firm believer in destiny. 'If fate has decreed that I end up married to you,' she'll sigh, 'then there's not much I can do about it, is there?'" This book has a deflationary zeal throughout – if nothing else, it is a great antidote to hot air about romance.